the coast of north carolina and virg virginia, but fortunately the eye is still about 85 miles offshore, earl with top winds of 105 miles per hour was downgraded to a category 2 from a 4 overnight. so far the storm surge has been minor. the flooding, we understand, is minimal. >> cape cod and nantucket are still in its sights and expected to get hurricane force winds later today. >> we've got this storm covered all up and down the east coast this morning. let's start with al roker in kill devil hills on the outer banks of north carolina. al, good morning. what's going on? >> hey, guys, i tell you, this is -- this is a near miss. if this had been right on point, it would have been a mess for us. right now, we've got wind gusts of over 70 miles per hour and it's a sand-driven, wind-driven rain that is just really brutal. we have had reports of flooding. we still have power throughout good portions of the outer banks right now. a lot of people are really, really excited about the fact that this could have been much worse. it's downgraded in its size and power. right now, we do have hurrica